Africa Overland in stages. This trip lead us mainly through Mali heading back to our car park at Sukuta Camping in Gambia.

Coming from Hombori and 15N 2W we carried on to Gao. We had no luck searching the wandering Gourma Elephants around Hombori, but decided to visit 16N 1W instead.

Though the Confluence is just 4.5 km beside the tarmac road, unluckily this time there was no track at all. So we aimed straight line to the coordinates. Fairly hard sand with a dense camel grass cover made it to a bumpy ride, but also a welcome ground for cattle. Small herds where grazing everywhere. Acacia trees’ copse dotted in depressions of the rolling landscape we tried to circumnavigate because of their nail-like thorns laying all over the ground. After 35 minutes we made it short before sunset. Having our first real confluence camp on the spot gave us the chance for a sunrise picture to the east, too.